Grindelwald's Return
by ASAD021
Summary: What happens when Gellert Grindelwald is suddenly thrust into the very moment his greatest enemy and friend dies? Thrown into a world he is not prepared for, Grindelwald must find old allies quickly to stand against the might of Voldemort and the Order of Phoenix. This is my first story so read and enjoy.
1. The Only One He Had Ever Feared

**A/N: **This is my first story so there might be some mistakes here and there. My writing is sort of an AU and I've messed around with magical combat a bit so it will feel quite different to the books. Updates might be spontaneous and irregular as it depends on how much time I have on my hands.

* * *

Grindelwald's Return

Grindelwald's POV

Grindelwald opened his eyes. Soft grass covered his body. Far above him, an unidentified mark hung in the sky. _Where am I? _The stormy sky revealed nothing. The night was alive with sounds and when he turned around he came face to face to with a stone wall. His usually calm mind churned viciously searching for an answer. He looked up, tracing the wall with his eyes until he realised he was at the bottom of a tower. Behind the tower, a majestic castle unfolded, all lit up, its grounds empty and deserted. It troubled Grindelwald. Where was he? He had never been here before but he had somehow seen it before. He staggered towards the wall and traced it with his fingertips sensing the ancient magic guarding it. _How many castles like this existed in the Wizarding World? _Not many contained ancient magic in their walls. And not many were occupied by hundreds of young wizards and witches. His brain confirmed what his heart already knew: _This is Hogwarts._

The realisation struck him hard. How had he gotten from Nurmengard, his impenetrable fortress, to here? Except it wasn't as impenetrable as he had thought. Pushing the memories out of his head, he turned around surveying the landscape. The castle was fully alight and beckoned welcomingly to Grindelwald's weary body. _Why was he so tired? _He could scarcely remember a time he had felt so... _broken_. In the corner of his mind, something was tingling, struggling to be heard. _His instincts_. Shaking off his tiredness, he closed his eyes and felt the area around him. With the absence of his wand, he would have to improvise. Dark magic was used here.

Something bad had happened here. Something that should not be possible. His keen eyes suddenly caught something. It was a dark shadow almost blending in the trees behind it. Grindelwald crept up to it, his bare feet scarcely making a noise. It was a body.

Grindelwald had seen hundreds of bodies in the past six years especially in the bloody battles on the eastern front so wasn't too surprised to see yet another one. Although not all bodies seemed familiar: his senses were screaming at him. The man on the ground looked small and old; broken. His body crumpling inwards as if something inhumane had stuck him in the chest. Probably the killing curse, Grindelwald mused. But why would the killing curse be used at a school? Kneeling over him, Grindelwald's breath was snatched away from him as he finally recognised the body. _Albus Dumbledore._

* * *

Thousands of miles away, in the forests of Germany, two towers jutted out in the night sky. It was an impressive, formidable building that had repelled an entire generation of aurors. The building had in the past been used as a fortress, headquarters and now a prison, one after the other. It was entirely made of Actonious and a great deal of powerful magic. The famed alchemist Nicholas Flamel was said to have created the legendary substance that would go on to defend it. Sadly, the secret recipe to Actonious was stolen the night Flamel was supposed to announce it to the world. And to no one's surprise, it happened to appear on the headquarters of the Most Dangerous Dark Wizard of all time.

Nurmengard was currently a mess. Dementors swarmed over the fortress searching in the vain hope of finding the solitary prisoner that lived there. Within minutes of the disappearance of the prisoner, there were loud cracks at the gates of Nurmengard. Aurors with their wands pointed entered the famed building, their nerves on edge expecting the Dark prisoner to jump out any second and kill them, as he had killed their fathers and mothers. Leading them was the German Chancellor of Magic who had lost his mother and both uncles during the reign of terror of the single prisoner. Sweat fell off his brow as he motioned for his guards to advance. There was a noise, like the patter of feet. He spun around quickly firing off multiple detection spells. But Gellert Grindelwald was not there.

* * *

Grindelwald's eyes widened and he backed away from the body. He wasn't sure what he should feel. Happiness now that his enemy was dead? Regret at the passing of a great intellectual? There was something really wrong with the body: Albus was an old man.

There could only be one explanation: Grindelwald was in the future. _How could this be possible? _

And then another thought struck him like a truck: _Who had killed Albus? _Albus Dumbledore was a being of immense power. It was almost impossible to kill him and if Grindelwald— Dumbledore's equal— couldn't kill him, then who had? Grindelwald gritted his teeth, contemplating waiting to find the wizard or witch that killed Albus. He could then finish them off like a vulture descending at the end of a long hunt...

_No!_

That was the mistake that had led to his defeat at Albus's hands. _The same Albus who was now lying at his feet._

Getting to his feet, Grindelwald turned over the bizarre situation in his head. His army had been cut off just as the final days of the war in Europe were drawing to a close. Knowing that the end was perhaps near, he retreated to Nurmengard as allies were too far to help him and new enemies sprung up like heads on a Hydra. The fortress had held for a remarkable six hours considering the few loyal men he had with him. Grindelwald always knew that he could simply apparate when the war turned sour, and emerge a decade later with his strength conserved. But there was something different in the air that day. It turned out to be Albus Dumbledore. Albus had strode out to meet him after all those years. All those crucial battles fought and enemies killed and ministries toppled and Albus had done nothing. Until now.

Grindelwald had raised his wand and duelled well... and he had lost. It was one of the most damning moments of his life: being at the mercy of another wizard. Albus had rested his wand at Grindelwald's forehead for a long moment. The two men were silent: each knew what the other would have said. And then the world turned black.

When he had regained consciousness, he was hundreds of miles away in a country he had despised because of one man. And that one man was lying dead at his feet.

Giving a dark chuckle, Grindelwald mulled his options. He couldn't stay here; somebody was bound to come here and wandless he would be no match if a teacher found him. He needed a wand. Searching Albus for a wand would obviously be a waste of time; Albus would have never died with a wand in his hand. Or would he? Grindelwald closed his eyes searching for a wand, any wand that was close by._ Surely there would be nothin-_

Grindelwald gasped. It couldn't be. Dropping down to the ground, his frantic hands searched the grass desperately. _Surely, it was not here. The wand that he lost only hours ago could not be here. _But it was. Lying in the grass alongside arguably the most powerful wizard in the world was the most powerful wand in existence. Grindelwald's hands slowly closed over the Elder Wand.

It was cold to the touch but Grindelwald did not care. The Elder Wand had served hundreds of powerful wizards and witches over the course of its lifetime but rarely did it come under the control of the same wizard twice.

A slow smile spread across the face of Grindelwald. He rolled his shoulders back, the wand firmly in his hand and immediately moved his hand in a long, sweeping motion. The wand obeyed the master. A thin piece of cloth materialised out of the air. It floated gently on the wind and came to rest over Albus Dumbledore's body. Grindelwald laughed aloud and pointed the wand at the sky. Green light shot from the end of the wand and rocketed up into the sky. It split in mid-air and carried on moving at speed towards its many destinations. Grindelwald stared at it hopefully, it was unlikely any of his followers would still exist to receive his message.

Grindelwald's shoulders stiffened in the cool night. _I need to get out of here._

Just at that second, there were bright flashes as a boy appeared far out in the fields of Hogwarts. Grindelwald strode towards him, immediately disillusioning himself to watch the spectacle. He was shouting and cursing in the night at a group of individuals.

The boy stepped forward, his body trembling from anger. He fired off a bunch off jinxes that the man with the flapping robe easily deflected.

A woman with curly hair gave a mirthless laugh. Casually, she twitched her hand and the boy was blasted backwards in a flash of light. The light illuminated his forehead for just a second. Grindelwald frowned. A jagged scar was visible on his forehead. A clear sign of dark magic being performed on him, probably at a very early age.

The boy bounced off the floor, his eyes burning with hatred. He shrugged off the pain and followed the group.

_Sectumsempra!_

Grindelwald frowned for a second time. It was a spell which despite his extensive knowledge Grindelwald had never come across.

The man with the flapping robe deflected it easily once more. He stalked towards the boy.

"Kill me then. Kill me like you killed him, you coward-" the boy spat out.

"DON'T- CALL ME A COWARD!"

Grindelwald pondered on this for a second as the man cast a particularly impressive whipping spell. The boy was thrown backwards as if his legs had been snatched from underneath him. The man was holding back though, Grindelwald sensed. _Why was he-_

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light and a detection spell came at him.

_You imbecile! Pay attention to your surroundings!_

Grindelwald quickly disguised his face with an annoyed gesture. He was committed; there was no way he could leave without causing a mess.

The thick-muscled blond man had cast the spell and it was he who Grindelwald turned his attention to first. His wand rested in his hand with an easiness that few possessed. This group of wizards and witches were not ordinary. Clearly, they were mercenaries.

Grindelwald quickly brought his wand down, his wand slicing through the air and hopefully, flesh. But the blond man was too fast. He stumbled backwards and cried out:

"There's someone here!"

His companions stared at Grindelwald curiously.

"Didn't realise Hogwarts had such nutcase Professors? Hiding from Death Eaters? Must have a death wish," the curly-haired witch remarked to the amusement of her companions.

Grindelwald's reply was swift. In one motion, two of the group were on the floor. Grindelwald, however, was taken aback. All of them should be on the floor.

One of the 'Death Eaters', perhaps much stupider than the others cried out: _"Avada Ked-_

Grindelwald blasted the man so hard that he simply disintegrated. It never stopped amazing Grindelwald how wizards would stop in the middle of a fight and say a tongue twister such as _Avada Kedavra. _His companion stared at the space his comrade had once been and at that moment he was screaming as fires crept up his robes, and more importantly his wand.

Their smiles died quickly and the witch snarled, quickly pulling the group into the traditional V that was assumed in battle.

The wizard with the flapping robe, presumably the most powerful of the Death Eaters had taken the important role of being behind the V, while the witch spear-headed the V.

Grindelwald grinned at the possibility of an interesting fight. He waved his left hand. The boy was lifted off his feet and into the centre of the group. The woman grunted and pushed him aside with her wand.

Grindelwald's hands began moving at lightning speed. Duelling was an ancient art and speed was often critical. Equally important was the choice of spells and their quality.

Grindelwald's fluid motions blended into one, his hands carving in the air. Casting intricate gestures with his wand, he gave them no room to attack pressing them further and further back.

The group buckled as one and the witch gave a surprised shriek at the intensity of magic forced upon her. The sound quickly turned into a snarl as one of her bumbling companions was blasted aside like a child.

She pressed the tattoo on her arm and cast a quick shield to buy some time for protective charms. The cloudy sky was starting to clear.

"Quick, Severus!" the witch shrieked

The wizard at the back of the V reacted quickly to Grindelwald's jinxes quickly nullifying most of them immediately. At the witch's command, he slammed his wand into the grass.

Grindelwald threw a counter-charm but it was too late. The ground started shaking and the Earth split apart with a loud crack. From the depths, a shimmery barrier sprang out, forcing Grindelwald back. The witch raised her wand but Grindelwald was faster.

_"Stupefy!"_

Grindelwald squeezed his wand; testing a magical shield used up a lot of energy.

The red stream passed through the barrier, although it significantly slowed down to such an extent that the witch simply moved out of the way. The witch then pointed her wand at the barrier and unloaded a dozen curses. They passed easily through the barrier.

The witch's face split into a slightly unhinged smile. Grindelwald groaned inwardly.

_That one-way barrier was smart. The wizard at the back, Severus, was clearly skilled which is why the boy believed that he had killed Albus. But he was wrong, wasn't he? _

_Focus on the fight!_

Grindelwald turned his attention into splitting the group. As usual, the barrier did not extend underground. Grindelwald had used this to his advantage countless times. And that was what he did now.

The ground split open once more but this time no barrier sprang out. The grass was torn apart and dirt flung up into the air as the gap widened. Birds in the air cried out in alarm at the unnatural event. Squawking, they fled the castle. Severus backed away, horror clear in his eyes but curiously instead of trying to save his companions he looked towards the unconscious boy. Grindelwald tilted his head. Chunks of the field were beginning to collapse into the hole. The sound of moving Earth was unimaginably loud. One of the companions was too slow to react. The wizard tried to back away, his wand pointed at the hole as if it could help. He was swallowed whole before he had time to scream. The rest of the group had seen enough.

The remaining wizards took to the air. Their bodies melted into a mist of black smoke and shot upwards, circling the castle several times before fleeing. Grindelwald was impressed; he had never seen anyone move like that.

"The Dark Lord will be here soon!" the witch shouted maniacally across the widening gulf.

Grindelwald did not reply. Severus knelt down by the boy's side. The void was swiftly expanding. Beads of perspiration rolled down the man's neck. Clearly, the fight had sapped him of all energy.

_As it has sapped mine._

Severus gathered the boy in his arms and fled— not away from the castle— but remarkably towards it. The witch was the only one remaining now.

"He will be here any minute now!" She had retreated backwards. The hole stopped expanding, its magical reserves spent. It extended over twenty metres wide and looked no more than a metre deep, but Grindelwald knew the hole was covered with Banishing charms, killing and removing any bodies unlucky enough to fall in.

A dark shadow rose from the tower and like a bat swooped over in the night sky to land by the witch. It was Severus. The pair slowly advanced, testing the waters with a quick spell. Grindelwald suddenly felt something behind him. He turned around but he was too slow. Too sluggish and too tired and too slow.

Two Dark curses decorated the entirety of his backside. The Death Eaters had not fled but materialised behind Grindelwald. Crying out in pain, he was flung off his feet. Grindelwald's wand seemed to act of its own accord defending Grindelwald against the various curses fired at him. Slowly, he got to his feet, his jaw clenched.

Grindelwald slashed his wand in rage, spitting out multiple curses and charms to keep them back. Enraged, his magic was an extension of him. He swung around to face the Death Eaters who had returned. Two more men were blasted aside as Grindelwald began advancing. Their howls could probably be heard in the castle. He smiled. The feeling of familiar power flooded into his veins.

But as quickly as that power had come, it also flooded away. And suddenly Grindelwald was drained of his power. His hand slowed. His curses seemed to lose their energy and his charms weren't efficient.

_You idiot! Look what you have done. You've wasted all your magical energy in an unfamiliar environment. _

Severus and the witch were the only ones left by now.

_They were very good. Almost as good as my lieutenants._

If he remained calm, as he'd done for the last half of a century, they would end up like their companions: dead.

Something was nagging Grindelwald. Grindelwald paused momentarily. Dark Magic. It was heading towards him.

_More friends?_

No, it was a decaying ball of something repulsive. It was not a wizard; it was far too inhumane for that. Its soul had been torn apart again and again. Grindelwald felt the magic protecting the school distort and deform as it approached.

_Where am I? Why is there a group of fanatical wizards at a school? Why is Albus dead? Why is this thing coming for me? _

The questions swirled in Grindelwald's head, colliding and breaking apart into smaller pieces. The questions multiplied exponentially and every possible answer seemed to bring more questions. They crowded his brain drowning out his thoughts. Grindelwald growled his frustration, shaking his head.

_Focus on the fight!_

Gellert Grindelwald never backed out of fights but he could not fight these two and whatever was coming for him. There was a loud bang and a flash, and the Death Eaters backed off their arms covering their face.

When they looked up again, Grindelwald had disappeared.

A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter! Let me know some of your thoughts. Next chapter will switch POVs to focus on an original character who was Grindelwald's lieutenant.


	2. Queensland Manor

**A/N: **This is the OC chapter. I have made some changes since the last time you have read this but nothing too major.

CHAPTER 2

Nine crept up to the large, country house. His footsteps were muffled by the spell he had cast on his shoes. Ceru trailed quietly behind him, his wand in his hand. This was Queensland Manor, an old manor made by a famous wizard who had arrived in Australia back when it was under British control. The manor was lit up tonight in sharp contrast to the Australian wilderness that stretched before it.

The moon was nowhere to be seen in the cloudy sky and Nine edged forward, his wand alight. _Lumos, _Nine heard Ceru whisper two steps behind him. The light blinded Nine and he glared at Ceru who quickly extinguished the light and began muttering a spell, more discreet but less commonly used_._ Nine shook his head. He had picked up Ceru a few weeks ago when he got in trouble with several Quidditch teams. He was certainly a very adept with his charms and his curses but sometimes Nine got the feeling that he faked his ineptitude to get people to underestimate him.

The first time they had met, Ceru seemed to be incapable of doing simple spells.

"What do you mean your name is Nine? Like the number nine? What's your actual name?"  
"Stop asking questions and just apparate us away from here."  
"Apparate? But…. what if I accidentally splinch you?"  
Nine had groaned loudly at the time, cursing his luck at finding such a useless wizard but now that he thought about it…

Hadn't Ceru apparated here without a sound?

It didn't matter. Tonight, they were working towards a common goal

Nine reached the entrance and gently pushed the gates open. The wards had been taken care off earlier tonight and the gate was easy to crack for Nine. _Why did the Australian Ministry think this was suitable protection?_ They had grown incompetent with no major threat to their distant shores for the last two centuries. Unlike their European and American counterparts, the Australian Ministry had spent the last few decades in peace. Something didn't feel right_._ He turned around his senses sniffing for danger but everything was as it seemed.

"Let's go!" Ceru's impatient voice hissed at Nine.

Nine waved his wand, searching for any hidden surprises but nothing registered. It was all perfect, all as it should be. The manor's various rooms were lit up and their presence had not been detected yet. Nor would it if their plan went perfectly.

"Well," he said straightening up, "Let's make an entrance." Nine began moving up the path his Disillusionment charm slowly wearing off, emerging in the night, like a shark breaking the surface of the sea. Ceru chose the more direct route, quickly moving towards the front door.

Together, they charged the door. Their wands flashed as one and the door was thrown off its hinges, its magical protection destroyed. Ceru's wand attacked the windows, smashing the glass to pieces. He leapt up in a magically-assisted bound and reached the first floor with ease, his wand out in front of him.

Nine moved in through the entrance, his boots sinking in the plush carpet. There was a flicker of magic and Nine reacted instantly, firing a combination of revealing charms and stunning spells. But there no yelps or screams. The room was empty. Nine's eyebrows shot up.

A blasting spell came out of nowhere; reacting purely on instinct he blocked it before firing a spell in the general direction it came from. Nothing replied from the dark interior of the house.

Suddenly, more came at him in flashes and bangs forcing him to his knees. One after the other, like a relentless train storming ahead. _What? Who— _No human could do this, not even a whole group of them. It had to be something else. _Impossible. _Could it be a Magical Creature or an ancient machine that would sprout out spells, faster than any wizard? All these thoughts swirled around his head, as his wand twisted and turned, desperate to keep the dance alive. Nine had to turn the tables onto this _thing _because staying here was going to end in an inevitable defeat. Seeking a respite, he slammed his wand into the ground, leaving it there and creating a quick temporary shield that would hold against the inhuman onslaught for a few much-needed seconds. His knees tensed and he blasted off into the sky, hovering for a few moments.

Free.

But he needed his wand back.

Swooping down, he held out his hand taking deep breaths to summon the wand back to his hand. To his relief, his wand jerkily rose off the ground and into his hand. Nine smiled.

His wand exploded with a jet of flames towards the house. The roof melted under the intense heat, crashing inwards and releasing plumes of smoke that could no doubt be seen even in this remote location. Nine closed his eyes and felt himself drop, the wind whistling in his ears for a few second before he crashed through the second floor of the house, his wand protecting him in the fall. Nine got to his feet but before he could react a curse smashed his backside, lifting him off his feet. Nine went straight through a crumbling wall and landed in a lavishly furnished room. The _thing _moved through the hole in the wall Nine had created. Nine could see it now. It had no form to speak of. There was simply an outline and just pure magic. Nine had heard of such creatures but they were supposed to have died out millennia ago as magic slowly diminished in the world and their purity was too potent to handle. The last of them were hunted by the ancient Egyptians who feared any magical creature stronger than them. _Who could have kept such a thing? It would require a magical event of massive power to get them back in this world. _But Nine did know one thing; this world was too magically deficient to carry them for long. Eventually, this being would disintegrate in a world full of computers and TV's.

The _thing _moved closer and then leapt at Nine forcing him to bring up his wand as a shield. The _thing _passed right through it but Nine was ready and leapt back. The _thing _didn't pause, Nine swung a sofa, followed by a table in its way before scrambling into the next room. It passed straight through. Suddenly, Ceru was there, his wand flashing various curses. _Where had he been when I was fighting?_

"NO!" shouted Nine, "It _sucks _up magic. STOP using magic!" Nine then broke his own advice by using his wand to pull Ceru to his side. They ran through the hallway and down a flight of stairs seeking to get out of its way.

"We've got to bring the roof down on it," panted Nine.

"Isn't that using magic?"

"Yes… but the wood should smother its magic, like a fire."

As Nine and Ceru exited the manor, they simultaneously threw up a shield at the doorway. Nine, the stronger of the two, held the shield while Ceru ineffectively tried to weaken the manor's structures by firing fireballs from its wand.

"Hurry up." It was coming closer to the shield. Ceru was not going to be able to collapse the manor in time. Gritting his teeth, Nine summoned his magical energy and threw it at the _thing_. It recoiled at the unexpected gift and absorbed. Ceru— catching on to the idea— threw his (feeble in Nine's point of view) magical energy at the _thing_. It was growing bigger and bigger and was absolutely brimming with energy. Nine was sure that the most powerful creature in the world at present was in front of him at that moment. At the edges of the inhumane mass, the energy flickered and spun, catching on to nearby furniture. The energy spread faster than any fire on Earth. It crackled as it leapt from the furniture to the floors to the walls. Objects erupted into dust as soon as the energy fluttered past it. The energy advanced onto the walls, but the old house wasn't simply protected with walls; magic spells and protection coated the walls preventing damage. Nevertheless, the walls were weakening. The _thing_ had expanded so it filled the entire front hall and was rapidly spreading but the walls were getting weaker and weaker, and at any sec—

The walls crashed down onto the _thing _smothering its magical energy into a tight supernova-like ball. It tried in vain to break free but the two-hundred year magical walls were too powerful and trapped its energy penting it up in a super dense ball. There was only one way for that pent-up energy to go.

Outwards.

It exploded outwards; its energy smashing through walls, furniture, and the roof.

The Queensland Manor had stood there for two hundred years and was currently a blackened, charred mess. Mini fires sprung up on everywhere regardless whether the material was flammable or not. Furniture lay burning sadly in the corner of ruined rooms.

Striding into the unaffected courtyard, Nine paused for a second and surveyed the burning manor. He winced; a powerful house destroyed by his wand. The authorities would swarm over him, like bees after honey, for the next decade. How could such a routine operation go so disastrously wrong? An image of Ceru rushing in with a picture of the manor sprang into his head. He sighed. Spots swam before his eyes and Nine suddenly felt weak. _Obviously, all that magical energy expended. _Nine closed his eyes but before he could regain control, his mind had started to wander.

* * *

He was transported back to 1939, during Grindelwald's rampage across Europe. Nine marched through the streets of Warsaw, his wand alert to every danger. To his left and right were his allies, friends, Nine might have called them an hour earlier, but there were no friends in wartime, only enemies and allies. No one was stupid to be on the streets in times such as this but Nine kept his wand out all the same. Only a handful of the Polish ministry men and women remained. They had gone into hiding among Warsaw's burgeoning muggle population. But, here in the slums, their magical trace would stand out like a bad flier in a quidditch team.

There was a flicker, and Nine Dashed, his body passing through the stone walls of the house with ease. The muggles in the house cried out with the sudden appearance of a brown-haired English wizard. Nine's wand flashed and a figure collapsed from the ceiling. The muggles screamed again. The figure cried out at the sight of one of Grindelwald's senior officers before being promptly knocked out by a stunning spell. Nine walked out of the front door with the unconscious wizard floating behind him. He chuckled to himself at the expression on their faces as he walked the length of the peaceful street.

Just as he reached the end of the street, a wizard walked up to him, "Sir, all magical resistance has been crushed." Sighing, Nine paused to wipe the sweat dripping of his brow. The wizard waved his wand shooting golden flames into the sky and within seconds there were ten more flames in the air responding in different colours. The battle was over. It had been swift, lethal and utterly unpredictable; just as Grindelwald had planned it a month earlier. Nine wearily apparated back to the rendezvous point.

Grindelwald was in full flow. His ashen face stared at his followers and his hands gestured manically as he outlined his plan to take over magical Europe. _Grindelwald is an amazing public speaker, _Nine observed for the thousandth time, _just look at how he captivates their attention. _

Suddenly, a droning noise filled the sky. _What the hell is that? _Grindelwald was cut off mid speech. Seemingly unmoved, he pulled out his wand in a single movement and brandished it at the sky, demanding the source of the disturbance. There was no response.

Now everyone in the village had their wands out, all preparing for whatever was going to drop out of the sky. There was no fear in the Storm-wizard's eyes; the battle was won after all. They were behind some of the most powerful wizards on the planet. What was possibly going to hurt them? A strange flying contraption suddenly burst out of the cloud cover.

_What the— _No sooner then when it had appeared, it was shot down by an unseen force and it fell, crashing and burning into a nearby building. The army watched as it spun towards the ground, their wands limply by their side. Grindelwald's eyes danced with recognition and his voice broke through the stillness that had existed a second earlier.

"The Nazis have begun their attack," he announced dramatically. The crowd gazed anxiously at each other while Grindelwald's senior members exchanged quick looks; even Nine was taken back. Who exactly were the _Nazis_?

"The Nazis are muggles, brighter than their fellow counterparts, but muggles all the same. We, while not direct allies with them, agree not to engage with any sort of duelling or as they call it, _warfare. _These measures will protect many of you. They will occupy the ministries of the enemy. The Nazis will push the muggle world to the brink of catastrophe until _we _step forward, conquerors of Magical Europe to rescue them from their plight. This plane in front of you, is only the start."

As if to illustrate his point, the sky filled with dozens of the flying contraptions passing over the village and into the heart of Warsaw. Nine watched with his mouth wide open as squadron after squadron passed overhead, dropped their load and left. Screams filled the sky followed by fires, later followed by the sound of gunfire as millions of soldiers would go to battle. Nine thought he knew everything about the world at the age of 24, but the magical world and the muggle world were very different.

* * *

As Nine roused himself from the unexpected memory, Ceru was busying himself by setting up enchantments around the border of the manor. _You stupid fool; you've wasted ages in a ministry-owned building that you just burnt down. _

"We've got to get moving," Nine announced, "We've wasted far too much time here already. Wait… why are you putting up enchantments?" Ceru didn't respond. Nine frowned. He could read magic extremely well, and although the art was obscure and nothing like reading a book, he immediately picked up traces of a wall. _So they were going to make their stand here? That was such a— _No, it wasn't a wall. Nine narrowed his eyes… a cage, it was a cage. Ceru was building a _cage_ for Nine.

Ceru suddenly leapt up and slashed his wand at Nine. The gesture was so unexpected that Nine was dumbfounded as the curse ripped through his body. If he hadn't taken the time to activate his wards that morning, he would have been slashed in half. Cursing, Nine rolled under a couple of hastily shot curses before rising into the air. Ceru followed him so they were almost face to face with no chance of one firing a spell before the other. In fact, there were so close that Nine could see his own pointed face in Ceru's stormy eyes. Ceru yelled out a war cry before transfiguring his wand into a dagger aimed at Nine's heart.

Nine deftly side-stepped. _Why the hell is Ceru attacking me? What have I ever done to him? _Nine blocked another spell before resuming his contemplation. Ceru clearly was furious so was probably looking for revenge. The rate he was firing these spells perplexed Nine. It was a like a German machine gun. Ceru had not planned this; this was very unusual. He had gone over meticulous detail about what they were going to do once they had attacked the manor. And Ceru could've killed Nine at any number of opportunities over the past month. The truth hit Nine. It was a diversion.

Nine smiled at his opponent letting him know that he had seen through their plan before— It didn't work. Nine gritted his teeth: Anti-apparation charms. They were close. Immediately, Nine turned on the offensive. His wand flashed and darted as he sought to end this fast. It was over in no more than thirty seconds. Ceru might have been a young, quite adept wizard but Nine although having the appearance of a twenty year old had lived five times as long, been to all seven continents and had duelled the greatest wizards of his time including Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. Ceru lay on the floor, his eyes closed, although Nine was pretty sure he was still alive. Nine launched up into the air before promptly crashing into an invisible barrier in the sky. Cursing, he fell thirty metres slowing his fall at the last possible second. They were close to have stopped him from fleeing. He could sense them now. Dusting himself off, he turned around his eyes frantically searching for a good—

A crack cut him off followed by three more. Nine gritted his teeth. Well obviously they weren't bothering with secrecy and laws. Ordinary men wouldn't dare to apparate directly into an old formerly well-protected house.

"Hello Gentlemen." _Crack._ "Who are you? The Ministry? The Syndicate?" _Crack._

The men made no response. Ministry men, then. _Crack. _His wand twitched quietly behind his back creating wards for protection and shields to exhaust magic. _Crack._ They began to mass directly ahead of him and looked English. He studied them closely his eyes pulling them apart searching for their calibre. _Crack. _Their eyes gave nothing away. _Crack._ Definitely Ministry men. And powerful and skilled ones. _Crack. _Definitely European; it was quite easy to tell once you knew what you were looking for, in this instance it was their grip on the wand that gave them away. _Crack. _What were Europeans doing in Australia? And why had Ceru tipped them off?_ Crack. _

"You are placed under arrest for breaking the International Statue of Secrecy, associating with Gellert Grindelwald, murder, arson, robbery, invasion, using the Unforgivable curses, unlawful mind control —" At that moment there were more cracks cutting the man off.

"If you come calmly—

"Who are you?" Nine interrupted.

"Who we are doesn't matter—

"Who are you? How did you find me? I have been at peace for half a century. No ministry has bothered me except for the occasional spy. I have committed no criminal activities."

"Except for smashing up a house in which an artefact of great power was hidden."

"Except for that?"

"That alone is enough for us to put you under arrest and potentially send you to the British prison of Azkaban."

"What about a trial?"

"No trial will be necessary."

"What happened to being innocent before proven guilty? The Muggles have better laws than us."

The man who had spoken paused before saying, "Arrest him."

Twin ropes immediately lashed him. His hands and feet were bound and his wand fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. Nine laughed to himself; this was probably the third time he had been disarmed this decade. The ministry men moved toward him with precision and skill, the wards defending them impenetrable. Nine watched as they broke down previous curses, wards and defences Nine had employed, so any escape attempt would be quickly ended. They stripped his magic and laid it bare. They grabbed his wand, held it aloft and ungracefully snapped it in half. It gave a feeble spark of light before fading to a dull grey again, never to possess magic again. Nine eyes were as cool as his broken wand now. In his home country, the breaking of a wand would often be associated with a feeling of great shame but there was no anger or embarrassment in him. Nine was a calculating man and a calculating man never struck irrationally. Nine was still smiling when they apparated away

* * *

**A/N: **Nine's and Grindelwald's storyline will meet sometime soon. In case you didn't understand, Nine was one of Grindelwald's lieutenant and is now in hiding. Thank you for reviewing and favouriting this story.


	3. Flamel

CHAPTER 3

Grindelwald made his way through the thick, tangle of trees in the countryside of France. Sunlight streamed through the canopy of trees above him as his sparkling, blue eyes scanned for any danger. Grindelwald was more relaxed now; his worries of the previous night forgotten and the immediate shock of his defeat had worn off, and now he was adapting and improvising against the danger this strange world would surely bring. _I'm clearly in the future, _he thought to himself, _some near future, perhaps a generation or two after my reign. Albus- _Grindelwald gritted his teeth at the thought of his former friend. Leaves brushed against his dark blue robes as he made his way deeper into the forest. _Is going to her really the best idea? _He had apparated all the way here so it wouldn't hurt to trudge a few more miles into her lands.

Grindelwald's mind wandered over the hundreds of hours he had spent perfecting the art of duelling, the amount of books he read in search of the Hallows, the people he interrogated, the battles he fought, the intricate wards he had arranged meticulously.

All useless.

Albus's wand had stared at him contemptously as Gellert Grindelwald crumpled. He had lifted his head to see a red flash and his back was smashed against the walls of the fortress that he had built. Grindelwald's eyes stared up at Albus's and the blue eyes met each other for a single moment before Albus slowly raised his wand until it was level with his forehead…

Grindelwald slowly shook his head from the memories and attempted to focus on the task at hand: finding the portkey. It probably would be disguised as a-

There was a slight movement in the trees and Grindelwald's wand had already sprouted a Revealing charm. Nothing was there.

Grindelwald relaxed his tense body, his eyes however still alert but before he could resume his posture a simple spell came floating towards him. He parried it with ease before pausing and taking a moment to survey where his enemies were. Likely, an incompetent wand snatcher had decided to rob him for his Galleons. His wand stayed pointed towards the source of the disturbance while his mind searched for traces of magical energy. Immediately, he picked out two figures crouched behind him. He spun around and a voice interrupted:

"We require a mandatory payment of-

Grindelwald blasted the man into the farthest tree. His partner let out a surprised squeak before Grindelwald blasted him into a tree as well. Hiding a smile, he strode towards the two men who lay groaning on the floor. Their bones were likely broken. Grindelwald raised his wand and with a word, wiped their memories. He continued on his way his face etched with a beaming smile as he left the two confused wizards in his wake.

* * *

Voldemort stood with his back to Bellatrix, his hand caressed his wand and his eyes stared out of the window and onto the churning waves below. His lieutenant Bellatrix babbled behind him about a wizard who was somehow able to best her and Severus.

"My lord, he was terrifying, he faced eight Death Eaters without any hesitance. He killed Dolohov and Fenrir within seconds, he-

"Enough," Lord Voldemort's high, nasal voice carried across the room, "This wizard is not as powerful as Dumbledore was and is likely of no concern to me. You must find Harry Potter."

"My lord-

"That is the end of the matter!"

Bellatrix flinched and hurried out of the room. Voldemort closed his eyes. His followers were becoming more and more irksome as the days went by.

Voldemort breathed in, the air reluctantly passing through the slits on his face, and rocketed into the air. He shot through the sky like a cannonball. The black ball of death passed over rivers and forests before it briefly passed over a stretch of water. It flew south, faster and faster in the night sky. Black tendrils rippled in the wind as it hurtled towards its destination.

Then, it abruptly apparated.

* * *

Grindelwald arrived at the gnarled tree. Its crooked branches stretched out towering over the surrounding trees. It was quite an ugly tree. To Grindelwald, it reeked off magic. He walked over to it and placed his palms onto the trunk of the tree. Immediately, he was transported to a neat little cottage in front of a gentle stream.

He walked up to the door and knocked twice before it swung open to reveal an old women – an ancient woman. Grindelwald paused, something was off, she looked different. She looked even older, if that was possible for a being like her. _But how? It should be impossible. _

"Gellert, what a pleasant surprise."

"Perenelle-

"Don't look so shocked Gellert. Even immortal beings have to die."

"But…" Grindelwald was shocked; he had grown up with the Flamels and not once had he seen the slightest change in them. They had looked exactly the same from the first time he had met them.

"We destroyed the stone."

"But why would you- Grindelwald stopped himself before muttering a quick spell to calm his mind. Perenelle smiled; she had taught the spell to Grindelwald.

"Nicholas and I realised that the Stone would always be a problem regardless of where we kept it. Gringotts and Hogwarts couldn't hide it. Many people know of its existence now and who wouldn't want the gift of immortality?"

"So you destroyed it? But it has been threatened in the past as well."

"Ah, but there is a new kind of enemy. One, I dare say, even stronger than yourself." Perenelle's twinkling blue eyes looked up at Grindelwald's.

That _thing. _The _thing _that had been coming for him at Hogwarts. It was beginning to make sense now: Albus's death, the reason why the Flamel's were forced to destroy the Stone. Was this the reason why he had been forced out of the past at the very moment Albus defeated him? So he could defeat this _thing _before it took over the world? But… surely it wasn't that strong. This _thing _was just a wizard or a witch after all. He had killed hundreds in his time. But it had killed Albus, hadn't it?

"No, Gellert," Perenelle's calm voice shattered his line of thoughts, "Albus wasn't killed by Voldemort. No… he was killed by one that I suspect is a traitor, a coward."

Grindelwald mentally filed away his adversary's name before focusing on the distasteful fact that Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of his generation, was killed by a back-stabber, a turn-cloak, a spy. Grindelwald had always hated espionage. When he held most of Europe, he had refused to allow any spies to operate under his name until his lieutenants managed to convince him that although it was unpleasant, it had to be done.

The thought of his old Lieutenants brought a smile to his face: Alba, Delaney, Emmerich, Maximoff, Olympia… _Where were they now?_ Grindelwald felt lost, what was he supposed to do? In the past, his life had always held purpose: to rescue the wizards and pull them out of hiding. But now…

"So what now?"

Perenelle smiled again.

"It is not your destiny to defeat Voldemort that belongs to another. I'm afraid-

Perenelle stopped. "There's something coming. Perhaps you were followed."

Grindelwald's wand shot up and spun. His senses were as still as sharp as ever. His brain sent his magic searching for a possible sign of intrusion. Perenelle extended her hand and a staff appeared there.

"Someone's here." Grindelwald's voice was a raspy whisper; the kind he used against his enemies before he killed them.

"They shouldn't have been able to get in."

Grindelwald glanced out the window, but all looked fine. His wand started sprouting defence mechanisms. Perenelle, old as she was, strode out the door heading for the exit.

_What is she doing?_

"Come, we must leave the cottage!"

Grindelwald followed her, stumbling out of the cottage. The forest around them appeared disturbed. The sound of shrieking wildlife filled their ears.

_Incendio Augue_

Grindelwald felt the voice before he heard it and spun around, his wand already firing. But it was too late.

A massive fireball sprouted from the depths of the jungle and struck the cottage, obliterating it in an instant. The defensive shields simply crumbled under the force of the spell. Grindelwald glanced up at Perenelle in awe and a hint of fear. Her gift had no doubt saved him from a fiery death countless times. Perenelle swore in French before hobbling towards the portkey in the form of the gnarled tree.

"Come we must go now!"

"We need to find out who was behind this!"

"No- Perenelle reached out and touched the gnarled tree's rough surface. Nothing happened.

Perenelle swore again before swinging her staff in big circles.

Grindelwald turned around before walking towards the source of the voice. His wand raised, ready f-

"Who are you?" It was a cold, confident voice that greeted him just as a cold, confident man stepped forward. He was dressed in a large black robe that was at odds with the natural beauty around them. Grindelwald searched for the mark that the others had carried on their arm, but there was nothing. _Who was this man?_

Grindelwald's wand moved forward intending to blast this man into the nearest tree. Nothing happened. His eyebrows came together in confusion: "What?"

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who favourited and reviewed this story. And I know it's a cliché but... It really means a lot to me. Also, I feel like I might be mixing up Nine and Grindelwald's characters, could you guys tell me if that is the case?


	4. The Ministry of Magic

CHAPTER 4

Nine bit his tongue to stop him from crying out.

It didn't work, the strangled sound emerged from his mouth anyway.

"What to do you know of Gellert Grindelwald?" His interrogator's face loomed over him.

"Nothing!" Nine screamed, "He's been in Nurmengard for decades!"

"Where is Gellert Grindelwald?"

Nine laughed. "Chasing after a locked-up, old man… you people are delusional."

Nine earned himself another minute of shakes and tremors as he waited for the effects of the curse to wear off.

"Who are you any-

Nine howled in pain almost biting off his tongue off in the process. Before he escaped, he was going to leave this wizard as a smear on the wall.

There was a knock, the wizard got up and strode away, his boots click-clacking against the hard, wooden floor. Nine was in a room scarcely bigger than a closet under the stairs. He peered in the half-gloom searching for a door. But there was none. _There would be a hidden door for sure. _Nine had met rooms like this. Given time, he would be soon out of this despite the relatively little magic he had left.

The magical constraints that pinned him to the chair were as sturdy as any he had been in. He struggled for a bit, directing what feeble magic he had to probe at any weaknesses he could later exploit, but it was no use. His captors were too clever, their traps too ensnaring and their magic too strong. And he was no closer to figuring out why they thought Grindelwald had escaped. At the age he must be at, even an ordinary Auror could take him. _But look at you, only a decade younger but no change in appearance…_

The tall wizard walked back in with a vial in his hand. Nine had seen the liquid inside the vial many times. Although he disliked reading, he had studied the history and the recipe for the vial many times, as well as the cure and potential methods to shake off the effects of the vial, if only for a couple of moments. Because in the wizard's hands was Veritaserum – truth serum.

* * *

Cerebrus Langarm walked quickly through the winding alleys of Moscow. His head was ducked low even though there was no one about. He thrust his magic in a radius around a point, and when he found no one, he tapped his wand on a small, wooden door indistinguishable from the dozen that lined this street. The door swung open and he stepped in closing it behind him.

"Cerebrus, how nice to see you." The witch spoke English with a hint of a Russian accent. She twirled her wand around her fingers.

"It is nice to see you too, Hessa. Now, I have some intelligence but first I have some questions to ask: Have we given him to them? What has he told them? Is he being held in a separate building?"

"We have delivered him, although he has said very little. As for the location…" she giggled, "Why, you'd think that after one successful operation little Ceru wants to lead?"

Ceru bristled but refrained from doing anything.

"Well, what about that intelligence?"

"According to some students, there were bright lights on the grounds of Hogwarts the night Albus Dumbledore died. The signs of someone duelling, but… between who? Voldemort's followers are far too powerful to lead a duel for an extended period of time against anyone who was in that tower at the time. They would have simply killed had any wizard or witch that put up a fight. "

"So what are you suggesting?" Hessa chewed her lip thoughtfully, her twirling of the wand momentarily stopped.

"That the wizard who put up a fight was none other than Gellert Grindelwald." There was silence before Hessa's wand twirling resumed.

"That's a bold statement."

"But it makes perfect sense for Grindelwald to manifest at the same place and time that his greatest adversary and friend was killed."

"Hmm, luckily with the help of our new allies – which you were instrumental in finding for us – it will be a lot easier to apparate to England if this were true. However, the English dark wizard, Voldemort, has power there and it is rumoured to be stronger than that of the Ministry's."

"What if Grindelwald had moved in the time since these findings?"

"He has moved. In fact, you will be meeting him _very_ soon…"

* * *

The man came closer to Nine and said, "Open your mouth."

Nine knew there was no point refusing and opened his mouth confidently. The man tipped the vial's contents into Nine's mouth with steady hands before muttering a spell forcing him to swallow. The effect was almost instantaneous: his eyes rolled back and suddenly Nine felt as if he had lost control of his tongue. Now tell him: "Do you know Gellert Grindelwald, the Dark Wizard whom you served as a lieutenant for almost 20 years?"

"Yes." The first question was always the one designed to test if the serum had any effect while at the same time gathering if the right person had been chosen to be interrogated.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know," answered Nine truthfully. The man took a deep breath before repeating the question and studying his face.

"Does Grindelwald favour the European Grip or the German one?"

"European." Nine inwardly cursed, that question had caught him off-guard.

"Ah, and now what is your best guess for Gellert Grindelwald´s present location?"

"Nurmengard."

The man's lips tightened around his teeth. He asked dozens of questions; each worded slightly differently, but Nine would always reply with some variation of 'Nurmengard'. Eventually, the man got up and walked out of the door. By now, Nine was sure that somehow Grindelwald has escaped, even in his old and weary state. It should be impossible: Azkaban had been deemed too lenient of a sentence for Grindelwald, so how hard would it be to break out of Nurmengard.

Nine glanced around the room now that the fog had thinned considerably. His magical bonds already seemed to weaken so he tried probing them with magic again. It was futile but Nine knew what he was doing. He got up and as expected his captors had neglected to have a bond between the chair and the ground. Nine awkwardly waddled to the nearest wall and proceeded to smash the wooden chair against the wall, using little bursts of magic. Soon enough only a thin piece of wood was still magically attached to his back but Nine ignored and set about the task of escaping from the room.

He extended his right arm towards the wall, magically searching for any chinks or hollow spaces – there! Nine smiled triumphantly as he felt the hollowness of the wall. The hidden door would surely be here. Nine cautiously walked into the wall and as expected it gave way. Excitedly, he walked through the wall, his whole body passing through the wall as if it were nothing but air.

Nine walked out into an oak-panelled corridor but as expected he wasn't able to apparate away. Triggering a dozen curses by his sudden emergence, he started sprinting using sparks of wandless magic in desperate attempts to stop the curse doing any damage. Hopefully, if he could just keep up the pace these last few metres…

He was outside the bounds of the curses. Nine didn't stop but carried on past a flight of stairs emerging on a corridor filled with a large wooden door that leads to what looked like some courtrooms. Nine hurried on – no doubt his captors had caught wind of his escape and would likely be sending dementors or worse after him. And to deal with dementors, he _really _needed his wand. Most wizards or witches had a particular bond with their wand, some never noticed or never used it for any particular purpose but Nine did. Closing his eyes, he searched for his wand. As long as they hadn't moved the wand out of the range of his magical senses, he still should be able to locate it and if it was close enough: draw it to his hand.

Nine gritted his teeth and yelled loudly when he realised that it was very close. Giddy with relief, he stretched out his hand and within seconds the wand floated in his hands. Just like magic.

Nine continued until he reached the lift at the end of the corridor but before he could step in, the door dinged open and two witches strode out. Nine panicked before swiftly casting a Disillusionment charm. It wasn't perfect but it would do.

"Two dark wizards? Not just You-Know-Who but Grindelwald as well? They must be mistaken. Despite Dumbledore's obvious magical will, he cannot have done such a feat of magic. It breaks one of the fundamental laws of Magic." The woman's frantic whispering chilled Nine to the bone.

"I'm afraid it's true. Gellert Grindelwald now runs free after decades of captivity."

"But surely, he must be old and useless?"

"According to some Death Eaters we captured at Hogwarts, he's as youthful as he was in his prime. Bodies were also found at Hogwarts, they were part of You-Know-Who's inner circle. Grindelwald could not have done that if he was old and feeble."

The woman paused to acknowledge the growing shock on the face of her colleague.

"But the Ministry is doing all it can," she tried to reassure, "Nearly all of Grindelwald's old lieutenants are currently downstairs awaiting interrogation. Caught off guard, they were no match for the Ministries."

Nine's head started exploding at the thousands of possibilities. _What? Why did the Ministry of Magic have him? Ceru definitely wasn't from the Ministry. _His palms sweated. Escaping from the Ministry of Magic was no easy feat and although old lieutenants of Grindelwald were less known in England. If they knew who he was, he'd be put in Azkaban.

"The Ministries?"

"The problem has escalated from being a British one to being worldwide and most definitely European. The Europeans suffered most when Grindelwald was in power and they have long memories."

The women's voice faded out and Nine digested the newfound knowledge. So… some of his old friends must be in one of these cells. Suddenly, he turned on his heels and followed the two women back downstairs.

Surprising them from behind, he fired two spells from point-blank range into their back. The older women reacted impossibly quick, spinning around with _protego. _But her colleague collapsed to the floor. Nine pressed his advantage but the women held strong. Sighing, Nine sent a few curses bouncing off the wall —  
an old trick taught early in his training — and around her shield. The light went out of the witch's eyes but Nine was already sprinting his wand wreaking havoc on the doors of the cells lining the corridor. The charms on the cells were nothing compared to the magical power of him… and the people inside. The doors, however stubbornly remained closed until, one by one, they burst open as if a giant had kicked it open from inside. Nine grinned as he saw the familiar, burly form of Emmerich. The German man had aged considerably since the last time Nine had seen him. _Of course, not everyone seems to have the same luck as you. _His once proud and haughty face was now reduced to hollow cheeks and old scars.

"I go by Nine now, Emmerich."

"Nine? The number? Why?" His brow furrowed before realisation hit. "It happened thrice more."

Nine nodded before indicating that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Wizards began emerging from the various cells, their wands suddenly manifesting in their hands as they crossed the boundary. Their faces lit up in various degrees of happiness as they saw Nine.

"Listen up all of you," Emmerich's booming voice spread across the narrow corridor. Nine counted around twelve lieutenants, only three who were in Grindelwald inner circle. He knew all of them but he was only close with Emmerich. "We are escaping from this Ministry in a timely and orderly way thanks to Nine, who I'm sure you all know." They nodded at Nine.

"Use Dark Magic without constraint. Pretend we are the Death Eaters that they're so scared of and the ordinary Ministry workers will panic." Nine nodded; it reminded him of the days when Grindelwald was almost unstoppable. Ministries would put up a frenzied, desperate fight until confusion, paranoia and panic would bring them crumbling from the inside. He shook his head; he knew how this would end up. They made their way to the lifts passing the bodies of the women on the way. They packed into the lift, some of them hiding smiles at the absurdness.

"Hello and welcome to the Lift at the Ministry of Magic," a cold feminine voice spoke out.

"Which floor would you like to be taken to?"

"Uh, the Atrium please," Nine answered.

"Of course. You shall be there shortly."

The lift dinged open and the group sprang from the lift spearheaded in a v-formation by Emmerich. Immediately the ground beneath them rose to envelop them. Nine was too fast though and his wand beat the ground into submission before sprinting across the floor. The group behind him fired various flares in the sky before unloading a barrage of spells on the frenzied crowds. Those fast enough easily blocked the weak spells but a few were struck hard, their eyes rolling backwards. Emmerich released the Death Eater sign in the air provoking an even bigger response. Various Aurors from the Security Desk were now firing spells at them but a small French woman called Mavis had taken up the Charms Specialist role behind the main V. Her wand furiously counteracted the damage the spells would have done. Screams filled the air as various wizards and witches noticed the intruders among them. The crowds started pressing against them and eventually, they were separated. Spells flashed in the air and people rushed towards the gilded fireplaces that lined the edges of the Atrium. It was precisely where Nine needed to go.

He carried on, pretending to be one of the hapless, panicked Ministry workers. Aurors were attempting to gain order through firing spells into the air but the crowds panicked and stampeded for the exits. Nine chuckled to himself: this lot were never going to hold up against a dark lord, let alone any the media were calling the 'the Greatest of All Time'. He slipped into a fireplace and was transported away from the captivity of the Ministry.

**A/N: **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'll try and write faster over the next few weeks. Thank you very much for all the reviews and follows.


	5. Cerubrus Langarm

CHAPTER 5

Grindelwald was rarely at the mercy of other men. In fact, since the turn of the century, the only time where he felt truly afraid and truly helpless was at the hands of Albus Dumbledore. But now this new world thrust him into positions he was not comfortable with. This man was not better at magic than him; Grindelwald could simply tell by looking at him. _How is he doing this?_ His magic had deserted him in the face of this magical void.

"My name is Cerubrus Langarm, and I ask again, who are you?"

"What are you doing?"

"WHO ARE YOU?" The man swished his wand dangerously, but Grindelwald was unperturbed. If his magic did not work, neither would this wizard's.

Perenelle strode forward, her staff swishing in the air but in that tiny area of forest, it seemed no magic would work. Cerubrus stepped forward, gripped the staff mid-air and pulled Perenelle off-balance. Grindelwald stood still. Perenelle cried out as she crashed into the undergrowth but still Grindelwald did not move. Out of the corner of his magical senses, Grindelwald felt others move in the forest around them just outside the bubble he was in. A small smile played out on his face.

For a long moment, the two men stared at one another with Perenelle lying unmoving in the middle.

Grindelwald's fist moved astonishingly quickly, smashing into the jaw of the man in front. Ceru let out a cry but Grindelwald had already turned and was sprinting out of the protective bubble. There was a rustling noise in the bushes – a man strode out to intercept him, firing a spell in his direction. Grindelwald ducked and fired numerous spells at him before he realised his fatal error.

As soon as magic entered the protective bubble, it shattered, and the man was on the floor in a flash. His companions did not follow so easily. They were highly skilled. Grindelwald felt the exhilarating thrill of a duel wash over him. A duel was a piece of art with every situation requiring a different response, but it was equally composed of arithmetic and logic with every spell honed to perfection. Grindelwald swung out his wand in a broad swathe. The leaves started rustling and branches started cracking. The wizards' Ceru had hired turned to look at the trees as they began to move with growing ferocity. Eventually, their trunks were ripped out of the soil and curious little legs started to sprout from the bottom. The first trees staggered onto land their branches swishing violently at the minuscule men below. Ceru's little army cried out, their jinxes ineffective.

"STOP!"

Grindelwald turned back on the man, Cerubrus Langarm. The punch had hurt him but not incapacitated him. Muggle duelling was quite crude.

"I think we are mostly certain of your identity."

"Are you, my dear Cerubrus Langarm? Why, if I did not know better, I would question the need of bringing a small army to confront a solitary man and his 500- year-old companion?"

"I need to hear it from your lips, who are you?"

He leaned forward.

"You know who I am," Grindelwald rasped. His voice lingered in the air long after he had said it.

The man straightened up and said, "Then we welcome your return, Gellert Grindelwald."

* * *

The German Chancellor of Magic was sweating a lot, especially given the current moment. Leon noted that down immediately. This was his first time attending a conference of such calibre and he wanted to make sure he made a good impact to the editors. Famous reporters from big newspapers jostled to get a good view of an event that was surely going to go down in the history books. Leon watched as the German Chancellor slowly clambered on the stage and walked up to the podium with small, trembling steps. The sweat on his brow was clearly illuminated by the lights. Pausing to check if the megaphone was live, he leant forward and began:

"There have been some rumours spreading from across the country, from magical villages remote and accessible, that our Great Magical State of Germany is in a position that it has not been for almost fifty years. These rumours are sadly true: starting today the Ministry, along with the ministries of Poland, of Russia and France, will be re-announcing the old war-time measures of Restriction on Magic. These measures include restrictions on magic such as apparations and affects the recruitment of our auror force. The Ministry shall release the full list soon."

Mutters spread across the room and Leon crinkled his brow. _What is going on here? _His pen momentarily stopped its incessant scratching, confused at the mixed signals it was getting from its writer.

"Now some of you in the audience and people reading the papers will be confused at the need for all these measures. But let me assure you, the measures are completely valid. Last night, the single inhabitant of the fortress of Nurmengard was found missing. Yes, my friends, Gellert Grindelwald roams free in our lands once more."

Leon shook his head: Gellert Grindelwald was at least ninety. Surely, he posed no threat to the highly developed country of Germany? No one else seemed to be thinking this. This could be his opportunity! Could you ask questions during his speech? It did not matter if Leon could manage to force the Chancellor to answer this issue. The questions taking place after the conference would solely be dominated by the bigger journalists and none of those old farts would think to ask this question. They would be too pre-occupied with the effect on the economy and other boring stuff. Steeling his nerves, he spoke out in what he hoped was a loud, clear and strong voice.

"Sir but isn't Grindelwald over a hundred years? Surely he is weak from his time in prison and of no concern to us?"

The Chancellor squinted to address the voice that had interrupted him from the back of the room:

"My dear boy, Gellert Grindelwald has not simply escaped from Nurmengard, he has somehow regenerated into his younger self," the Chancellor gulped, "Gellert Grindelwald is as young as he ever was. There is worse news. Some of his most dangerous lieutenants have managed to escape justice and were curiously skulking away in England at the _exact_ moment Grindelwald made an appearance at the British School of Hogwarts. He murdered _three_ wizards there and fled. The lieutenants were apprehended by the British ministry but have since escaped. They include Emmerich and _Vier_ who I am reliably told goes by _Nuen, _or Nine, recently. Other criminals of note who have begun stirring are…"

The crowd grew ever loud at every name. The implications were simply astounding to think that Gellert Grindelwald had returned in his full youth and that he still had supporters to back him.

"And to all the impressionable youths at home, I leave this final message: Grindelwald is a charmer, a seducer and he will lead you to your destruction. Do not heed his call and look to the history books to see what happened to those that did. Together, we can stomp out this monstrosity once and for all."

* * *

Grindelwald wanted to stay as far away from Nurmengard as possible.

"We must go to Nurmengard, my lord, it will be a rallying point for your supporters, your acolytes."

"Do not call me, 'my lord'."

"Yes, sir."

They walked on for a bit in silence. Grindelwald turned around to see the wizards following them with Perenelle on a magical stretcher following them. They had taken the portkey after Ceru had released whatever artefact he had that allowed him to suspend magic. They were walking to the nearest magical village to access the floo network as apparation restrictions had sprung up all over the country. Grindelwald could easily bypass them, but he wanted to see Perenelle safe before he did so.

"I have no desire to be anywhere near Nurmengard."

"Really? Why Grindelwald do you want to know why and how you were brought back at the exact moment that one of the Greatest wizards in the world died? Surely these questions have been plaguing your mind since the second you woke up. Can your brilliant mind imagine the vast undertaking that took place to somehow bring you forward fifty years?"

Grindelwald could not. _Impossible, no wizard should have the power to do such a feat of magic. The magical power alone, the consequences that come with messing around with time… it is not possible. u_

Ceru's voice dropped down into a whisper:

"You can imagine it, can't you Grindelwald? And you know that it is not possible, that it is beyond all current magic. Don't you want to how it is done? Isn't that what Muggle 'magicians' say to their audiences? 'A magician shall never reveal how he did his trick'. However, Grindelwald I will give you and only you the chance to know how the greatest magical feat of this century was done."

Grindelwald paused, but Ceru carried on, "Have you wondered at how the world has changed since 1945? Major changes in magic take decades to take place but in the muggle world… Nowadays the rate of change has sky-rocketed, some of the things they do… utterly reprehensible. The magical world is at risk once more but not by its ancient enemies, the Goblins or the Elves but by the _common muggles. _Muggles that we so often ridiculed and then when they grew too strong we hid and cowered in remote magical villages… Before you were beaten by Dumbledore in that ill-fated encounter, do you know what took place? Do you know what the muggles did to their own? Of course, you do Gellert, because you saw it, years before it happened. You saw the might of the Muggles and sought to reverse it before it was _too late. _You saw the two bombs fall spiralling the air until they exploded high above the Muggles city! Their mushroom cloud was filled with the radioactive substance of Uranium-235, which we wizards call _Uran."_

Grindelwald's face darkened. He had seen the exact scene Ceru was describing. He had seen how the entire city disappeared in a flash of light and that even long after the event was over, elements were still present, that even Potion Masters feared to utilise it in battle. For you could defend yourself against explosive substances, but what defence was there for an invisible gas that was so hard to make and find?

Ceru paused to stare at Grindelwald's horrified face. He smiled inwardly and pressed on with his tale.

"And over the coming years, it worsened! The two most powerful Muggle countries seemed destined to go to war over the past few decades, but they did not… because each had the same weapon and to attack one another would result in the vaporisation of their own country by an atomic weapon. So, they watched and waited and eventually started competing in another field that was not warfare."

Grindelwald silently cursed himself for not catching up on the details of what had happened in the half-century that he had missed. _Knowledge was after all power. _He could see how Ceru was attempting to manipulate him into retaking Nurmengard, but a simple, discrete spell was all it took to realise that every word was the truth.

"Space was truly the last frontier for the Muggles after they succeeded centuries after us in exploring the Earth-

"But they haven't explored the Earth, have they? They can only explore where their puny legs take them. They cannot explore our cities in the oceans nor our lands in the sky." Grindelwald's face was red.

"It is true," Ceru continued calmly, "that humans have not seen as much of the ocean as we have or as much of the sky as we have, but the aeroplanes that you saw in the War have been enhanced and they now have ships the size of a small city. It is only a matter of time. But they have exceeded us in one aspect and that is Space."

Grindelwald gritted his teeth: it was well-known in the Wizarding World that space was out of the reach of magic. During the Golden ages of Magic, numerous explorers and Spacefarers threw away their lives in the grand pursuit of the unknown. Grindelwald had often dreamt in his teenage years of solving the great conundrum of magic and space but as he grew older his worries at Earth propelled him to lead the fight against Muggles.

"The Muggles managed to propel machines into orbit around the world. Then, the first human reached space and before long there was a flag on the moon. The Muggles are so advanced these days… You would not believe the machines they have created. Their population is exponential, it took them thousands of years to reach the one billion mark however their population climbed five billion in under a century. Grindelwald," Ceru's face was inflamed as he took a breath, "we _must _do something before it's too late and that involves going back to Nurmengard to meet the person who brought you here!"

Grindelwald paused for a long time. Ceru wanted him to move to Nurmengard. _Possibility of a trap laid there was low. And Nurmengard was his traditional headquarters_. _But first, he needed knowledge._

Ceru could see Grindelwald wrestling with the answer in his head.

"Alright Ceru, let's go to Nurmengard but while you make your slow way through the Rhine. I will be apparating elsewhere…"


	6. The Unintentional Horcrux

CHAPTER 6

Emmerich was chuckling loudly, his voice echoing off the walls as he clutched a massive mug in his hand. The room was nearly empty and Emmerich seemed to fill up a large part of it. The only ones left now were the bartender and two witches gossiping quietly in the corner. Nine fought the urge to yawn.

"So… so, I walk up to her and I ask her, why are you making that face…

The rest of the story was drowned out suddenly as Mavis who had apparently heard of the punchline before, burst out in laughter. The rest of the group moaned, peering through the smoky room to see who had ruined the joke.

Nine smiled. It was good to see the rest of them back. They had not all shared a room since 1945, and although many of them were far from their prime, they were still a strong fighting force.

"Nine, come here!"

It was Emmerich. Nine flashed him a quick smile and walked awkwardly to the stool next to Emmerich. The eyes of the rest of the lieutenants were on him.

"Nine! You have been silent all evening. Come join us, we have much to talk about." Emmerich's wand twitched and a hushing noise filled the room.

"So… what is the plan now?"

The rest of the group leaned forward expectantly.

Nine opened his mouth but… then faltered. What should he say?

"Grindelwald is back."

The announcement was met with silence; they already knew this.

"I think that our way forward is obvious. The only path we can take is to meet up with our former leader. We need to assess his plans and ten find a place far away to rest and recuperate. I know all of us are bound by the Protocols unable to meet up or even stay together for long stretches of time. However, today tells me that the charm has been broken and no longer functions. Therefore, we must track down and find a way to Grindelwald before he finds himself captured."

"And how shall we do that?" It was Mavis, her French accent still evident in her voice after all these years.

"I don't know," admitted Nine.

"I have heard he was last spotted at the English school, Hogwarts."

"He is unlikely to have stayed," replied a lieutenant from the back of the room.

"But where could he have gone next?" Emmerich asked.

"Anywhere really."

"I'm leaning more so to France."

"Why France?" Emmerich, as always, played the devil's advocate.

"I have heard rumours. The owls tell me that the house of Perenelle Flamel was destroyed."

"Who would destroy Perenelle's house? I mean, surely, she is close to her death and her position is of great secret."

"Grindelwald?"

"Who else could have found it? She only lets in people she trusts."

Nine watched the conversation with muted interest. He had never been one to thrash out the details of a plan. That sort of thinking had been left to other more meticulous minds. He resisted the urge to yawn for a second time. The discussion was quite dull and it had been a very long day.

"So… it is settled. You will now apparate to the Ministry we have just come from. Ask for the files relating to what happened at Hogwarts." Emmerich was leading the discussion.

"But… how are—

"Maximoff, you have been a Dark wizard for fifty years. Figure it out!"

Maximoff nodded, his lips drawn in a tight line and disapparated promptly with a few others.

"Oskar, you will go to what is left of Perenelle's house with your old team. Say you are old friends of Grindelwald and she will let you in. Return at the same time as the others, as we have discussed."

Oskar disapparated without a sound.

Nine raised his eyebrows. Things were moving quite fast.

"Emmerich, perhaps we should slow down? We need these men."

"For what? We should bide our time here. We are immune from ministry persecution while in this room. Let us send a few wizards to check known hotspots of Grindelwald. Once we know where Grindelwald is, we re-join him. Easy." Emmerich spread out his large hands as if to demonstrate the simplicity of the plan.

"We will be safe here. Us three are very recognisable; the other lieutenants are less so," Mavis reassured Nine.

"Relax Nine," boomed Emmerich, "everything will be—

There was a loud crack outside the bar. Mavis frowned and looked up. The remaining few lieutenants gradually quietened.

"What was that?" Emmerich boomed, standing up. His mug sloshed over the table and onto Nine's arms. Nine made a small noise of protest but Emmerich did not seem to hear.

The charm that had muffled their conversation broke and the bartender hurried over.

"Let me have a look."

The bartender waddled over to the door, his wand poking at the air. Nine watched with apprehension.

The bartender pushed the door open timidly. Nine half-expected the doorway to fill with green light and the bartender collapse but there was no one there. The bartender poked his head around the doorway as if to see if anyone was standing on the side, but he later emerged, shrugging his shoulders.

Nine was on his feet now, his wand in his hand. Something was wrong. Emmerich put down his drink and pushed the bartender out of the way. The rest of the group were on their feet. The witches in the corner stood up, a strange look in their eyes. Nine focussed his attention on the door while Mavis watched at the windows.

There was a long, stifling moment when nothing happened.

Then, the room exploded into action. The bartender spun around and jabbed his wand into Emmerich's back:

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

The world seemed to slow down. Emmerich crashed to the ground. Nine's mouth was moving but neither spell nor scream came out. Mavis screamed— a sound of pure pain and limitless rage. She pulled out her wand in one swift stroke, the Unforgivable curses on the tip of her tongue.

"_Expelliarmus!"_

Mavis's wand was flung from her hand. It was the two witches in the corner.

"_Stupefy!_"

The witch snarled at the unexpected spell, her curly hair nearly set alight as Nine pressed his advantage but in a duel things could change so fast…

There was a blinding flash. Searing pain hit the back of Nine's eyeballs before he could throw a hand in front of his eyes.

_What was that?_

His brain was crying out, audible pops could be heard by his remaining senses, like the sound of someone apparating. His wand—one of the most powerful weapons in existence— sat limply in his hand. Robbed of his sense of sight, Nine was rendered useless, unable to tell friend from foe. Curses passed inches away from Nine's forehead as he heard the remaining lieutenants try and put up a fight but the sheer number of enemies that had arrived were overpowering them and without Emmerich, they were all lost.

_Emmerich._

Nine was thrown backwards, smashing into the wall with sickening force. The pain dissipated in a second as Nine felt the cool embrace of unconsciousness.

_This does seem to happen with ever greater frequency, _thought Nine, his mind slipping.

* * *

"Cissy, take these downstairs, to the dungeon. Now!"

Nine's back throbbed with pain as he was casually dropped onto the hard floor.

"Alectus, Amycus, call the dementors inside. Tell them to surround the dungeons."

_Where was he?_

The painful memories of the fight at the bar came rushing back.

_He was supposed to be safe. They were supposed to be safe. _

The bartender was the secret keeper— he had _assured_ them. Nine cursed at his arrogance, his teeth clenched. The bartender was all too easy to dismiss. He was a short, plump fool with his rat-like face and scrunched, watery eyes. His hands were gnarled and bony. His skin was pale and papery. What threat did he pose to Grindelwald's lieutenants?

Nine took a deep breath. No doubt his ugly appearance had deceived many before. His shrill voice had rung out suddenly from his leathery throat and one of the greatest wizards of his generation had been thrown backwards— the light in his eyes gone— before he even realised what happened.

_I will avenge you, Emmerich. _

Nine opened his eyes, the darkness blinding. His eyes gradually adjusted, and he could see the soft outlines of the walls.

"Hello?"

No one responded.

He was alone in his cell. Nine painfully clambered to his feet and walked over to the walls, his hand slowly tracing them as he had done at the ministry. It was of no use. He had been in an interrogation room in the ministry; this was an entirely different beast. Nine could feel the magic thrum underneath his fingers. It repulsed him. It seemed to represent everything that Nine had ever loathed. Nine jerked his hand away, startled by the power of the defensive wards. No wonder Grindelwald never escaped from Nurmengard.

_Or perhaps he had accepted his fate. _

Nine shook his head. He certainly was not going to do that. These wizards and witches that had captured him were no great Dark wizards. If the lieutenants had not split off so than they might have stood a chance, but outnumbered and surprised, they quickly crumbled to the onslaught. Now only five, no four, were left to languish under this haughty building.

A sudden wave of cold fear swept through Nine's body. Nine jumped up, his heart in his mouth. He knew that feeling but he had not felt it in a long time. A sudden vision of masses of hoodless creature swarming into the night— like dogs released from a leash—gripped him. Every army in the war had used them and when they fought… Nine could feel them coming closer, and more memories flashed into his head, quicker than he could process them but the lingering feelings of abject misery ate at his bones. Nine tried closing his eyes but that would not help. Dementors affected all wizards differently but they could only make you relive what you had seen. Nine had seen far too much.

Mangled bodies flashed into his head. Their bodies decorated by dark curses and strung over the building as warning to any foolish enough to enter—

A man gave a cry and scrambled backwards; the fear evident in his eyes. Young Nine— or Alba as he was known back then— walked forward, his wand pressed to the man's forehead.

"Alba please… I have been a good father, as good as any. I have raised you well. Look how well you fight…"

Alba's wand flashed quickly and the man's forehead split open—

Nine cowered in the corner of the cell. The memories coming too slow now. He had too much time to dwell on each and everyone one of them.

The twinkling laugh of a woman filled the room now. An image of sunlight and happiness—

Nine staggered to the floor, his arms cradling a corpse. His hands numb. His rescuers stared with pity as they found the pair, one shivering and the other unable to shiver—

A giant of a man lied unmoving on the cold floor; his massive frame so large in life seemed pitifully tiny in death—

Nine shuddered. That was too recent.

A girl flashed into his head, her long brown hair gently tumbling down her back. Their features were alike, and Alba smiled as he saw his sister enter the room—

Her infectious smile beamed across at Alba.  
"Alba, let me meet him, please. I hear he is going to the Wachenburg Castle."

Alba had smiled and immediately agreed. After all, how could his little sister do anything to threaten the Greatest Wizard of All Time? Alba had scoffed at the idea. Sure, she hated his ideals but maybe she would change her mind once she met him—

Her wand danced in the air, twirling with deadly grace. Alba watched mesmerised as she forced Grindelwald to his knees. The castle was a cacophony of noise. Aurors spilled into the hall in their haste to see the Dark Wizard finally captured. Grindelwald was alone… except for Alba. _He had led her here, hadn't he? _It was his fault and Grindelwald knew it. The shame welled up in Alba—

The witch walked back to Alba, her wand levelled at his head. Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry Alba. Maybe years from now you'll learn to forgive me."

"It's alright. I understand why."

"You do?" Her face lit up with a relieved smile.

"Yes." Alba's stomach heaved with the lie.

Her wand fell limp and she leaned in close.

"Alba—

She never finished the sentence. Alba viciously yanked the wand from her hand. She yelped in surprised and shrank away. Alba raised the wand and pointed it at his only surviving sibling.

"Kill her now!" It was Grindelwald's cold voice that rang out now—

_No, please no…_

Alba's terrible wand set out to kill once more—

A terrible curse erupted out of the end of the wand. Nine's soul was torn apart in that instant. It fled his body at that act of murder. The murder of a blood relative with their own wand. Nine screamed with pain. This was far worse than any physical agony could bring him.

The aurors scrambled on top of one another in their vain attempt to escape. The shockwave ripped through their fragile bodies and continued outwards. Cleaving through the rest of the castle. Reducing it to nothing more than a ragged pile of rubble. Nine covered his eyes and let the pain swallow him—

Nine was standing on top of a ruined castle. Its hall was completely destroyed and its towers were barely standing. Grindelwald stared shell-shocked. He appeared unhurt, although his face was ashen and his eyes disorientated.

"Alba… do you realise what you have done?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I felt something, Grindelwald. I felt a tear in my soul."

Grindelwald gazed out in the distance. Cries of alarm were being sounded and wizards swarmed towards the wreck, their confused manner visible from even up here.

"A Horcrux," he croaked, "you have made a Horcrux."

"A what?"

Grindelwald's face sank as the truth dawned on him.

"And I, as the only living being close, am the Horcrux." Grindelwald turned around; his eyes wild—

Nine was back in his cell, his hands over his ears. The moment in the castle had haunted him for years, and the Horcrux…

Eternal life was not meant to be tasted by humans.

"How? How can you still live? The stories are true. _Vier, Five._ You cannot die. Five times we have seen you die, and yet you still stand and now you will kill me." The wizard's frenzied eyes looked up at Nine's.

"How many more times must this happen?"

_Hopefully never. But it wasn't never. It had happened Nine times. Each time more torturous than the last._

The pain of dying was light. There would be a few moments of agony and then he'd slip away to that world where nothing could hurt him. But the pain of returning was unimaginable. A human mind in disembodied form was pure torture…

Nine shook himself free. The dementors were right outside his door. It would not be good to let them taste his suffering. The more they had, the more they would want. But they were too strong…

Nine attempted to stand up. How long had he laid here? His clothes were drenched with sweat and his voice hoarse. He sat back down giving up on the futility of getting up and let the memories consume him.

**A/N: **How are you guys enjoying the story so far? What did you think of the reason why Nine was called Nine? Please leave reviews and remember to follow and favourite the story if you are enjoying it :) Next chapter will be here soon


	7. Nurmengard

CHAPTER 7

Grindelwald nodded patiently as Oskar babbled in front of him. The sight of his leader after all these years had momentarily reduced him to a blubbering wreck. Grindelwald's mind was whirring at the possibility that his lieutenants had united again. What he could do if he could take back Nurmengard…

"How many?"

"Some but not enough. A lot of us were killed or imprisoned right after you were captured. We tried to rescue countless times but…"

Grindelwald lifted a hand.

"What about Alba, is he here?"

"Yeah, but he insists we call him Nine now for some reason that only he knows."

Grindelwald was closer to Alba than perhaps any wizard was to another. Part of Alba's soul rested in Grindelwald, effectively turning him into a Horcrux. Grindelwald had always kept Alba close to him. There was no telling what would happen to the other if one of them died first. Something this intimate had unnerved Grindelwald since that day at the castle.

"Grindelwald, what are we going to do? I have a few wizards with me, but I doubt we can do anything until we get everyone back."

"No… we don't need everyone. I think we can take back Nurmengard tonight."

"Tonight?!"

Grindelwald was interrupted by a loud crack outside the door. He sighed theatrically and gave an exasperated smile to Oskar.

"Ceru, perhaps you could try making your apparations a bit louder."

Ceru hurried into the room, ducking as he passed the doorway.

"We have to move closer…" he spied Oskar out of the corner of his eyes, "Oskar Fernandes?"

"I see you have heard of my lieutenant. Not surprising since their names have probably been splashed across the ministry's lists for decades."

"Pleasure to meet you, 'Ceru'. Might I ask who you are working for? I think I have heard of your organisation," he said glancing towards Grindelwald.

"I don't work for an 'organisation'. I work for a person, much like yourself."

"Yet this person cowers behind other wizards. Tell me… who is Novymir and why is he helping us?"

"Novymir will step forward when the time is right. We have not started the war yet."

"Another war?" Oskar looked at Grindelwald.

"Perhaps we shouldn't be too hasty…" Grindelwald tried to smooth over.

"There will be another war. It is inevitable. Not between us and the corrupt ministries but against the muggles, like it should have been."

Grindelwald had been resigned to this fact ever since he was a teenager, yet now…

"Do you have any idea—

"Don't tell me you've lost your faith in Grindelwald's cause?" Ceru chuckled.

"No… no, of course not. But I am old now. I will not live through a second war."

"Old age does not dull magic," countered Ceru before Grindelwald could speak.

"Gentlemen," Grindelwald's voice rose over their argument, "Put this talk about war behind you and focus on what we must do tonight. I owe Novymir a debt. He is the reason why I'm standing here. Mr Langarm here can confirm it."

"What? It's impossible for one irrelevant wizard—

"I did it on his orders," Ceru admitted.

"Now," Grindelwald said, his voice rising in volume, "let me tell you what I need both of you to do."

* * *

Nine vaguely heard footsteps towards his cell. They sounded muted, almost unimportant, but for some reason his brain urged him to his feet. His legs shook as he rose from the ground. The footsteps paused outside the door and Nine could hear frantic whispers.

"Bella, careful, you do not know what _they_ are capable of. If my wretched cousin could survive these dementors..."

"Cissy…

"Have you heard the rumours… he doesn't age… he fought in the Great War but looks younger than Lucius!"

"Enough Cissy!"

The door swung open and two witches that Nine even in his hazy state could tell were related walked through. Their wands twitched in unison and Nine found himself stumbling back against his well against that _repulsive _wall.

The woman called Cissy spoke first: "Hello Alba, or as you prefer to be called, Nine."

Nine nodded.

"Can I just ask...why Nine?" Nine looked up confused, "It just seems like a very silly number to choose as a name."

Nine didn't respond.

"Do you know where you are?"

Nine shook his head quickly.

"You are at a cell at the Ministry of Magic. We were very disappointed to hear of your attempted escape."

Nine didn't need Leglimency to see that they were clearly lying.

"He doesn't believe us, Narcissa. There is no use playing nice. Bring back the dementor."

"No, Bellatrix—

"I will tell you what you want."  
Both witches turned to face him again.

"Very well," spoke Bellatrix softly, "Have you met this wizard?"

A picture of Grindelwald appeared and rested itself right under his nose. Grindelwald seemed to be duelling, deflecting multiple spells at once. Nine could tell that it had been taken recently.

"He is in Nurmengard. I haven't seen him in fifty years."

_"Crucio!"_

Nine cried out. The spell did more damage than he had expected.

"We are not ministry officials, Nine. We will not hesitate to use force!" Narcissa's dark hair had swung over her shoulders as she brandished her wand at Nine.

"How has Grindelwald returned?"

"I don't know."

Bellatrix raised her wand and Nine flinched.

"Who are you? Why do you want to know?"

Nine's eyes searched the two witches for any clues. They were dressed in black and they were quite proficient. They had used an Unforgivable Curse without thinking. Clearly, they were some sort of Dark wizards. A tattoo of a snake was coiled on their arms. Nine raised a tired eyebrow.

"You're working for that English Dark Wizard aren't you. Lord Voldemort?"

"Don't say his name," hissed Bellatrix. She jabbed her wand under his chin.

Narcissa pulled her sister back and whispered something in her ear.

Bellatrix turned to him and spoke coldly, "Come with us."

Narcissa pulled him towards the door with her wand. Nine's limbs were frozen in place, yet his mind burned forward with icy slowness. _Concentrate. _ This would be the perfect moment to escape.

* * *

Grindelwald bounded across the grass, a disillusionment charm covering his approach. His footsteps were soft as he bounced towards the fortress. Tents were huddled together, dwarfed in the vast grounds surrounding Nurmengard. The tents flapped noisily as the wind started to pick up. Grindelwald smiled; Ceru was working well. It seemed few people wanted to sleep in the fortress tonight. Yet, the fortress rose imposingly behind them all the same.

The famed gate rose out of the darkness, its metal bars reaching heavenward. The words emblazoned on its entrance for decades gleamed in the darkness:

'For the Greater Good'.

The words rang hollow for Grindelwald now. His great message, his slogan, his trademark was now confined to the history books. It was remembered as a warning to what happened to those that followed his path.

_It doesn't matter now. Taking back Nurmengard will make them remember._

Grindelwald rested his hands on the gate. The metal was cold in his hand as he grasped the bars. There was a moment of silence and then the gate responded to his touch, welcoming its old master home. Grindelwald surged forward to what had been his home, his fortress and then his prison.

A loud noise broke the harsh winds of the night. A young auror stood there with his wand pointed at Grindelwald.

"HANDS UP!"

Grindelwald wordlessly obeyed.

"_Accio Wand."_

The most powerful wand in the world crossed the gap between Grindelwald and the auror in the blink of an eye. Grindelwald's fury started boiling over. How dare this kid act with such authority. His father had probably fought in the war but this soft, pudgy boy…

He looked so sure of himself like his ministry would protect him from the dangers that came out of the night. How wrong he was.

Grindelwald's hands reached out slowly and pushed his hood back, just a little. The moonlight shone on his ashen face and those piercing blue eyes. The auror's eyes widened in recognition and stammering, he tried to back away. Perhaps if he had resisted, then Grindelwald might not have done what he did but something about the frantic cries of the boy as he stumbled backwards pushed him over the edge…

* * *

Oskar rubbed his hands together before reaching for his wand. His men peered anxiously over his shoulder, waiting for the charms to be disabled before they could safely proceed. Oskar pointed his wand at the tent and swished his wand. The tent door flapped open and they carefully stepped inside. Like all modern tents, the tent was far bigger on the inside. His boots made a clacking sound on the marble floor of the kitchen. They headed towards the bedroom. Oskar gestured to his men to open the door. Four wands carefully pointed at the occupants of the bed: an old wizard and a much younger witch.

The wizard suddenly leapt out of bed. Oskar groaned as he took the stunning spell straight into his stomach. But the wizard stood no chance. Almost immediately after, three curses smashed into his nightgown and he was thrown across the witch. The witch was shocked awake but before she could scream, she was also met with three separate spells.

Oskar's men levitated the wizard outside the tent, leaving the witch snoozing. Oskar paused to pull himself together and sent a quick message to Grindelwald: "The Minister was the only one who responded. All the rest have been safely captured. Six guards around the perimeter are unresponsive. The rest should find their comrades soon. We will meet you in the fortress."

Nurmengard had never been home for Oskar. He had always liked the war campaigns of the war. They would apparate daily, travelling from place to place. Each time sleeping under a new roof. The changing scenery during the early years of the war was one of Oskar's fondest memories and he had hated it when they were forced to stay at Nurmengard to entertain allies or to plan future battles.

Grimly, he stepped in the castle's shadows and tapped on the stone. For a long moment, nothing happened. Oskar wondered if the old building still recognised him. Surely Dumbledore would have properly secured the fortress against all threats? Then, the bricks began moving. A loud harsh sound filled the air as the stone peeled back like a red curtain to reveal the opening scene of a show on a theatre. Unfortunately for Oskar, the show seemed to involve an auror.

"_Protego!"_

Typical auror, always going on the defensive.

Oskar could barely make out his face in the darkness but he could sense the auror was tense. As he should be if someone peeled back the wall of the most impenetrable fortress in the world.

"Look, it will be easier for us all if you drop your wand and come with me. You are trespassing in an official ministry investigation and the consequences will be very serious if you don't come with me now."

"Do you recognise me?"

"No, but I'm sure—

"_Lumos."_

"Sir, _please refrain from using magic or I'll use force." _

"Use force on a harmless old man?" The auror hesitated.

Suddenly, his shield broke and the auror cried out. Oskar reacted quickly and sent a couple stunning spells towards him. The auror deflected them and attempted to send a warning into the sky. Oskar sprinted through the hole before at point-blank range whispered, "_Confringo!" _Luckily, his comrades were close enough to silence the cries that emerged from the auror.

Oskar knelt down and checked his pulse. There was no sound.

The auror did not deserve to die. He had been a far braver man than most choosing to warn the others than try and fight for his own survival. Another magical life silenced. Oskar gritted his teeth and pressed on.

* * *

Ceru surveyed Nurmengard anxiously. His part in the plan would only begin once Oskar had broken in. His men rested behind him talking in low voices, the light casting deep shadows over their faces. From this distance, Nurmengard was a shadow and only the lights of the tents could be seen.

Ceru's mind wandered over to Hessa's face. Truth be told, some of the things that lieutenant said were right. He had not seen Novymir in the flesh. In fact, all the things that he knew about him came from Hessa. He gritted his teeth. He hated being reliant on Hessa. That smug little witch was too cunning for Ceru to keep up with sometimes. The first time he had met her he was convinced she was crazy. Her plan was impossible. Yet at the end of that meeting, he had agreed to her deal.

"Think about it… Ceru, with your help, it is possible." Her voice had been barely above a whisper.

"What about the side-effects? Such a breach in the fundamental laws. We don't know what the side effects will be," he argued.

"What does it matter? Probably some magic will be released to balance out the effects of what we did. That's all."

"But what about—

"Quit your whingeing! Grindelwald will not fall into enemy hands. The world has forgotten how good of a wizard he was. They will remember quickly now."

"Alright," Ceru had finally said, "but on one condition. I need to meet Novymir."

"Not possible."

"Why?"

"Look, if Novymir can organise and plan perhaps the greatest piece of magic in history, then there is no reason to not put a little trust in him."

The reasoning made little sense to him now. All the magic performed so far had been by Hessa. It was Hessa that went back in time. It was Hessa that kidnapped Grindelwald just after his greatest and last defeat. It was Hessa that killed present-day Grindelwald. It was Hessa that now ordered him to capture Nurmengard.

Wait… what was that?

There was a bright light next to the main gate. It was Grindelwald's entry point. Grindelwald had the harder job of the two. He had to reach the gate on his own where he could use the old magic of Nurmengard to gain access to the perimeter.

The bright light swirled gloriously towards the heavens. Below him, worried murmurings reached him from the tents, growing louder the higher the light climbed. Nurmengard's spires seemed to rise a little menacingly as the flames licked its jet-black stone as if it could recognise its master's magic again. The murmurs from the tents had now grown into urgent shouts as aurors burst from their tents, their robes only half done up. The aurors swarmed about the gate, nervous to take a step inside. Ceru's heart raced into his throat. _What was Grindelwald doing? _Surely, Oskar should be in the building by now. What was going on? The first aurors had begun fighting the blaze and for a second it looked as it would be put out…

And then it fell, like water released from a dam. It rushed towards the ground and splintered into a thousand pieces in a massive explosion. Ceru exhaled sharply. It was impossible to imagine the scope of what was happening. From his position, Ceru could see lilac flames dancing across the landscape. Yet on the ground it would be a very different story. Faint screams lit up the night and Ceru shuddered. The fury of Grindelwald unfurled in the narrow space between the wall and the fortress. None of the aurors that had set out of guard Nurmengard would survive the night. Far later Ceru would claim that he saw brief flashes of blue and white ineffectively attempting to keep the lilac flames from engulfing them but everyone would shake their heads and say that perhaps in the frenzy of the night, he was confused and his memory muddled.

A tug of magic pulled at Ceru's arm and he knew that it was time to do his duty.

"Everyone, link up."

The wizards tore their eyes away from the spectacle and as one, they disappeared with a deafening crack.

* * *

Grindelwald's mind throbbed as he staggered up the stairs. His magical energy was exhausted and expended. Oskar walked in step with him relaying information that he only half-understood.

"Sir, the aurors are at the walls but I don't think they will attack now. The minister is the only one that has regained consciousness. We put him in your former cell." Oskar looked over to Grindelwald and frowned. "Sir?"

"Do you think it was worth it?" Grindelwald murmured.

"What… what was worth it?"

"Why must every war start with blood on my hands? An ambush in the dead of the night as well." He gnashed his teeth. Oskar faltered. This was not the leader he remembered.

Grindelwald's voice changed in tone, "Do you ever remember how the war started?" It was not some grand invasion or a hideous threat that pushed the ministry into war's arms. No… it was an accident. The history books will say that it was the massacre of Fortchenberg that forced the Ministries to declare war. But no… it started before that."

Now his voice sank into a low whisper: "There was a wizard by the town, no older than the guard I just killed. I was careless and he recognised me. In my panic, I killed him. No sooner had I done this than his parents appeared, shrieking and shouting. What could I do but give them the same poisonous gift? They too joined their son. I grew angry at the senseless violence, the waste of precious magical blood. I blamed them for their own deaths and my rage grew. When I came upon the aurors lying in wait for me, that rage exploded on the village. This is what happened today."

"The war killed thousands of wizards and witches and left hundreds insane or permanently scarred. The wizarding world cannot take such a catastrophe ever again, not if we want to usurp the muggles. Wizards should not fight other wizards."

"But… we can't?"

Grindelwald came to the top of the steps and looked Oskar in the eye. His grim, haggard face stared back.

"What are you suggesting, sir? Peace with the ministries?"

"No, it's too late for that. They will want vengeance for what we did today. But if we want to ever beat the muggles then we must be united… or be wiped out."

Grindelwald was at the peak of the tower now. The tents had long since been abandoned but Grindelwald could still hear them flapping in the wind. Slowly, he brought his wand up and pointed at the sky. For a moment, Nurmengard was lit up in a heavenly flash. Grindelwald's face screwed into concentration. An object sprouted from the end of the Elder Wand and with a boom rocketed into the atmosphere blazing yellow smoke in the pre-dawn sky. It rose higher and higher, disappearing into the clouds with a final boom. The light slowly dissipated and gradually, Grindelwald's face was covered in darkness again.

"They will all come now."

**A/N: **Sorry for the long hiatus in the story. Hopefully, I can get back on track now. Things are now heading towards breaking point and I'm anxious to write quickly.

Thanks so much for the support!

Next Chapter will be out soon!


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